ECC Cartoonbooks Club: famous cartoonists

Showing posts with label famous cartoonists. Show all posts

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Quino - The cartoonist of the year 1982

In 1982 Quino was chosen cartoonist of the year by the International Pavilion of Humour of Montreal, Canada. A that time I even didn't know who was Quino, but over the years I've discovered so many excellent cartoons by him.

I agree with the authors of this tribute catalogue:

"In my opinion, it is QUINO's uncaptioned one panel gags that will be mainly responsible for his entree into the history of art, where he will be seated next to Daumier, Rolandson... It is only natural that this great artist, this fine humorist, this tender humanist (note the philosophy in his work), this man of action, should be honoured in 1979 by the "Salone Internazionale dell'Umorismo di Bordighera" which awarded him the "Palma d'Oro" in recognition for his artistic output; that France gave him the "Prix de l'humour noir" and most recently some 800 cartoonists participating at the 19th "International Salon of Cartoons" in Montreal bestowed upon him the honour of being CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR '82.
Viva Quino!

Many, many awards followed over the years... (Quino website)

Learn more:
Quino on our blog
follow Quino on Facebook
www.quino.com.ar

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Quino

I've posted some Quino articles earlier on this blog, but I'm still amazed by the astounding humor of the artist. Quino cartoons have a Buster Keaton-esque quality... Study the cartoons below and you'll notice Quino understands as no other the behaviour of mankind...

Monday, September 29, 2014

Vladimir Kazanevsky

I was pleased to attend the opening of the exhibition of the great Ukraine artist Vladimir Kazanevsky in the ECC on 27 September.

Rudy Gheysens and Vladimir Kazanevsky

The exhibition gave me the answer to the question why Kazanevsky portraits so many headless people in his drawings. There is a philosophy involved:

'People with their own heads are supposed to be happy, healthy and intelligent. There would be no more wars, drugs, prostitution ... But they have deliberately turned their heads away. They have decided that the soul was in their heels or in their hearts, their gallbladders or their stomachs, but not in their heads. This is how they began to live. They no longer know how to think for themselves, and a government without a head does not know where it is going. If you look around yourself, you notice this results in a 'headless' society.'

That evening, I had the opportunity to buy two books of the artist. One of them is Homo Gibber (Daedalos Verlag, Basel, 2007, ISBN 978-3-905774-02-3). As with the drawings and cartoons of Kazanevsky, this is again a very odd book, "a novel without words". It's about the hunchback.
On the back cover of the book we read:

"The hunchback -ancient mystical symbol for folded angel's wings as well as for dark passions, hidden sins and human confusion- is used in the 'novel without words' as a characteristic feature of a creature that does not dare or care to use its highest human potential. Vladimir Kazanevsky's manifesto is a compelling one: Hunchbacks of the world - straighten up!. The gorgeous and humorous drawings will leave nobody untouched."

drawing a dedication for me...

Learn more:
Kazanevsky at Cartoon Gallery
Best Cartoons: gallery

Monday, September 22, 2014

Captain Bruce Bairnsfather exhibition in Plugstreet (Sept 19 - Dec 24 2014)

A few weeks ago I got this kind invitation:

Mr. Gilbert DELEU, Mayor,
Mr. Didier VANDESKELDE, Chairman of "Plugstreet 14-18 experience", Deputy Mayor for Cultural Affairs,
Mr. Luc DE GEEST, Deputy Mayor for Tourism,

are delighted to invite you to the lecture proposed by Tonie and Valmai HOLT, and the inauguration of temporary exhibition "Captain Bruce Bainrsfather, the Creator of Old Bill and the Better 'Ole".

Last Friday I attended the excellent lecture given by Tonie and Valmai Holt. We all learned some interesting facts about the artist and his character Old Bill. Tonie showed us some trench and other maps to locate the places, farms and cottages where Bruce Bairnsfather (BB) spent his time during his short stay in Belgium and where he was a witness of the Plugstreet Christmas Truce in December 1914.

I was delighted to hear that the famous BB, until the end of his life in 1959, was a very kind, amiable and cordial person. So are Tonie and Valmai Holt who gave the lecture. I was happy to see them again after we met in 2009 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dead of BB. The temporary exhibition shows a (small) part of the impressive BB collection owned by Tonie and Valmai: Grim wades, trench art, glass slides, jigsaw puzzles, cards, postcards, prints, magazines, etc.

Surprise of the evening was the unveiling of... the original Better Ole cartoon. A top of the art collector's item and a masterpiece of BB: the most famous cartoon of WWI.

Valmai with original Better Ole cartoon

If you like the work of Bruce Bairnsfather, then follow this tips:

1. learn more about BB on our blog or on Mark Warby's BB website

2. like The Bruce Bairnsfather Society on Facebook (you can even join in)

3. fill in the petition to give Bruce Bairnsfather the recognition he deserves for his immeasurable contribution to boosting morale during WW1. The petition has been started by Tonie and Valmai Holt, who are proposing that a leading member of the Government should make a statement in the House that Bairnsfather's contribution during the war should be retrospectively recognised.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/the-captain-bruce-bairnsfather-recognition-2

before the lecture, I took this picture at Prowse Point cemetary

Monday, March 31, 2014

Das Schlachtross "The War Horse" by Paul Flora

What can you buy nowadays for 2 euro? Today I have to pay 2,10 euro for a bread here in Flanders, so I was happy I recently found this nice book by Paul Flora (1922-2009) for only 1,99 eur. Das Schlachtross (English translation "the war horse") was published in 1957 (Diogenes Verlag).

Enjoy some of his drawings:

Napoleon in gallop

Learn more:
In Memoriam Paul Flora

Monday, March 10, 2014

Art of The Times

One of the finest things a collector can overcome is to receive an email from someone with the question if you could do something with cartoon books he wants to get rid of. No more place in the house...

A few months ago I got such a request and I hurried myself to meet this person who lives in my town. He is a passionate book collector himself, but not of cartoon books. We had a very nice conversation about the passion of collecting and the love for art. I learned to know a very kind person, whom I met afterwards since we met that first time. "Being rich is not measured by what you have but by what you give"... I met a very rich person.

One of the books I received is this "Art of The Times" catalogue (Bordeaux, France, Octobre 1973). It's a collection of 100 "graphic statements" commissioned by The New York Times for use on its "Op-Ed" page.
It contains art of some world famous graphic artists, such as Searle, Sempé, Topor, Folon, Furukawa, Brad Holland etc.
What a discovery!

You'll notice that if some of these drawings were published in today's papers, they stil would fit, even after more than 40 years.